State's Political Watchdog Now Posting Investigations Online

In the past if someone wanted to find out if a politician was being investigated by the state’s chief political watchdog group, they’d have to go through a lengthy legal process. Now, you can get that information with a few clicks of a mouse.

It's the Fair Political Practices Commission's job to
investigate if a candidate is suspected of misusing or failing to
report campaign funds. In the past, the details of those
investigations were only revealed through a public records request,
or when the FPPC rules on the case. That was often long after the
elections were over. But FPPC Chairman Dan Schnur says as of this
week that information will be posted on the commission's
website.

"It's very clear to me that a fine, even a very substantial fine
leveled in the months after an election is much less of a deterrent
than a headline that appears in the local newspaper in the weeks
before that election takes place."

Schnur says politicians often spend millions of dollars on
campaigns these days. He says a fine of thousands, or even hundreds
of thousands of dollars by the FPPC isn't much of a threat. Schnur
also points out that just because someone is being investigated
does not mean they are guilty.